Talk:Thaumaturgy/@comment-5982125-20131121171538
The French tried to get involved once it became apparent that the Americans were going to win, but the Russians threatened to get involved if they did. The Russians and the British don't really like each other, they're simply united by a common enemy (France). So Russia let the British get wrecked as a means of knocking them down a few pegs and making Britain more dependent on them. But they didn't expect / predict how harsh the peace terms would end up being or how much more of a threat America would become because of it. But once France started trying to jump in, the Russians couldn't abide by that. In retrospect it was a short-sighted move on their part, and they ended up executing their Chancellor over it, because once America finished annhilating Britain they turned their jingoistic sights on Russian Alaska. Still, unlike the British, the Russians have more than enough resources to put up a real fight, and at the point when the story picks up it's anyone's guess as to whose going to win. The Russians just figure they can pump enough men into Alaska and hold out long enough for the Americans to get tired of fighting and give up. They don't have a very high opinion of our democratically-elected government, and think it makes us weak. What they, and a lot of the American people, don't understand is that the American government might be an elective republic, but Roosevelt basically turned it into a single-party state... so if the current President were to get thrown out of office because of the war in Alaska, the next one would be under a lot of pressure to continue it. Besides, even if Russia had gotten involved to defend the UK, what could they do? It'd just lead to a huge naval battle in the Baltic Sea that the Americans would win. The Russians could throw their bombers at the West Coast of the U.S., but they'd just lose a shit-ton of them and it wouldn't make the U.S.A. bat an eyelash. Russia figured that if they left the U.S. alone, the U.S. would leave them alone --- and that's what they agreed to do, signed an agreement behind closed doors with the Russian Foreign Minister where the Russians allowed them to run rough-shod over Britain in return for the Americans leaving them alone. The Americans also promised the Russians they'd let them have British India after it was over. But of course they didn't, and then proceeded to attack Russia instead a few years later. The primary concern of the Russians prior to 1958 was getting more territory in Asia. Hence why they were fighting so much with the Japanese over China. They were already pissed at the Americans for getting involved there, but they figured they could cut a deal with the U.S. and get what they wanted anyway. Now America's invading Alaska and bombing their major cities from bases in Germany. They also parked their Pacific Fleet off Vladivostok and shelled the crap out of it at the beginning of the Alaska Campaign, only had to withdrawal because the Russians belatedly threw swarms of torpedo bombers at them. Moral of the story: Russia wasn't prepared for war and attempted to compensate for this through diplomatic maneuvering, failed utterly, and put themselves in a rather compromising position. Before the 1940s-1950s, they probably would have been able to take France by themselves. Now they can't, because the Americans are as powerful as they are. If not more so.